On Saturday morning, on Truth Social, Trump announced that he will be arrested Tuesday:
. . . THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE AND FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”
From The New York Times:
We’ve been hearing rumors all week that Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen testified before a Manhattan grand jury and that an indictment might be coming.
Manhattan DA Bragg responded to Trump’s call for violence by telling DA employees in an email that “we do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York.” While I consider Trump an unreliable source, Bragg’s internal email indicates that indeed, something is brewing.
If it’s true that Trump will be arrested Tuesday, he evidently decided to leak this for drama, to get ahead of the story, and give his propaganda network a chance to get working.
Remember, we don’t know what the charges are. I hope that a first indictment contains more than the hush-money stuff. One charge at a time makes it easier for the Right Wing Propaganda Machine to work.
If you want a review of the Manhattan investigation, see this post from several weeks ago.
Arrest Procedure
Arrests are usually not dramatic like in the movies. How an arrest is handled depends on the situation. A violent crime in progress, for example, will be handled differently from a person who cheated two years ago on taxes.
If prosecutors feel there is a danger of destroyed evidence or flight, they can seal the charges and get a warrant so that they can take the defendant by surprise.
If the prosecution has been in contact with the defense counsel (which we know happened in this case) the most likely scenario is that the defendant will be given a summons and the prosecutor and defense lawyer will arrange a time and place for the defendant’s appearance. (I checked with Mark Reichel before posting this to make sure it was accurate.)
More details from a follower on Mastodon:
In my experience, the prosecutor contacts the defense counsel (and Magistrate Judge), and a date is agreed to. The defendant then comes to the FBI field office (or Marshal’s office) on that day/time, and is photographed and fingerprinted. Law enforcement then brings the defendant to the Magistrate Judge’s court for the initial appearances, where the defense lawyer meets them. The Arraignment may happen at the same time. (These things vary based on the district.)
If indeed there will be an arrest and indictment this week, we are in for a bumpy ride. I’ve been warning people that indictments are just the beginning. There will be pre-trial motions, a nerve-wracking trial, and the judge may make rulings you don’t like. While this will move faster than civil proceedings, recall a prosecutor’s definition of “imminent.”
Procedures and “delays” are not bad.
Procedures = rules. Procedures slow things down.
The idea motivating criminal justice procedures has never been to move from indictment to punishment as quickly as possible. The goal is to move with precision, care, and thoroughness to make sure that the correct results are reached.
Until an indictment is filed and Trump is arrested, all we can do is engage in speculation, which is tiring and not productive. If he is not arrested on Tuesday, he looks silly and so does everyone who spent days discussing it.
If he is arrested, he managed to control the media narrative.
I suggest instead of going into speculation land (and to prepare for what may be coming) you take a break and curl up and relax and read a story.
Memoirs and True Confessions of a Disinformation Warrior
I was sitting in a cabin on a mountain outside of Los Angeles when I got an idea for a story. This was my view from the window:
My yard on California’s central coast has succulents and palm trees, so it was quite mesmerizing to watch the snowfall.
Some of you read a shorter version of the story. I have since felt inspired to expand it into a short novel.
I currently have two books under contract, a book on Disinformation with Macmillan and a book on the Bill of Rights with Abrams.
Seeing books through publication is time-consuming and a hassle (and generally I don’t write the kinds of books that make bestseller lists. Me = too 🤓)
So I thought I’d make the short novel free for my readers.
So grab your favorite beverage, snuggle into a comfy chair, and click here.
It’s going to be a long year, but it will be nice to see the indictments fall. Even with the frustrations to come, if nothing else it means that reality is crushing through making it impossible to ignore. And they also poke holes in the dystopian fantasy that the GOP has been pushing for the last 40+ years.
Thanks for the novel. I just started reading it and like how it’s developing.
OK, but I opened the champagne last night anyway.
Thank you, Teri for the free novel. It’s what’s for tonight.
I had to to chuckle at your comment about Trump getting his “propaganda network going”. Spot on.
I can’t stop laughing.
Goodness. The novel is a wild ride.
OK. I’ll want to read part 2 (and however many parts follow that as well). Thanks for sharing this with us.
As always, thank you for your insights!
I’ll be on pins and needles waiting for conviction… but not as much for indictment.
Thanks Teri for keeping us up to date on the legalities of this long nightmare. ✊
I’m going to buy a bottle today to be ready!
I am amused with this “short novel”, but I am currently on ET and will be asleep when you drop the next submission. I’ll check it Monday morning.
Fixed it:
“generally I write REALLY good short novels that could easily make bestseller lists. Me = more talented than I give myself credit for”
Well done, Teri – you’re so good at setting the scene, and telling a riveting tale. Loved it. And pretty impressed you have time for doing this on top of everything else you manage to juggle. Feeling pretty lazy over here.
Do you see any tactical advantage to having multiple indictments come out in a cluster?
Trump plays the media like a fiddle. The talking heads speculate what the charges are and whether they “rise to the level of….”
There was no story to break, and I knew that reading your blog post was where I needed to go to maintain perspective.
I have a tendency to view this NY Times article as propaganda because the mother if it’s author, Haberman, has been been doing PR for Trump for years. I wish Trump would stop dominating the news in a way that gives him power; between him and DeSantis, you’d think our next election won’t be between a Democrat or Republican but that’s it’s only a choice between the two Republicans.
One pre-ordained delay in the making- TFG’s “counsel” J. Tacopino has a clear conflict in that he represented Stormy Daniels for a short period in the early days of this encounter. New representation will involve a series of Motions and delays.
After reading your comment, I added this to the blog post:
Procedures and “delays” are not bad.
Procedures = rules. Procedures slow things down.
The idea motivating criminal justice procedures has never been to move from indictment to punishment as quickly as possible. The goal is to move with precision, care, and thoroughness to make sure that the correct results are reached.
(Comments help me write better blog posts, the same way good questions help a teacher to do better.)
I’m deep in the short story and hooked. This is the thing, folks make a big deal about public servants having mental health problems like depression and other Axis I concerns, which is ridiculous. It’s ridiculous because it’s rarely if ever dangerous to the public. Character disordered and dangerousness in those who seek power is what we should focus on. My profession has the experts and the tools to screen out dangerousness but we leave the ability to do so on the table. I agonize about this. History shows we need to stop them before they have power at the top. We need to stop them before they kill millions of people. We celebrate all kinds of technology. Why not the technology available in the field of psychology? We warned American!
The problem is that we can’t punish people before they commit a crime. As soon as you go there, you create a police state.
Did I understand your comment correctly?
The way to stop people is not to vote them into office. Trump was elected even though people knew about his issues and lawbreaking. Part of the problem was disinformation (people thought Hillary Clinton was the lawbreaker) and part of the problem is that Trump’s base WANTS a lawbreaker.
In other words, how do you stop people if millions CHOOSE to elect a lawbreaker and unhinged person to office?
Any chance your books will be on Audible? I have grown to dislike ready with how aging has impacted my eyes.
Possibly. I just remembered there is a program that allows me to do that. It will be a while, though.
I agree wholeheartedly, Andrea! The media has given too much power to Trump since 2015 (and even before ). Media have normalized corruption, lying and greed, too. My other pet peeve is both right-, center- and left-wing media’s use of the term “unprecedented” when referring to any legal action being taken against Trump. The emphasis should be on how the *behavior* of a former president was unprecedented, which is the cause of these legal actions in the first place!.
Thanks for the novel…I loved that the journalist is a graduate of MU’s J-school (I am, too, but certainly NOT summa cum laude)!
you went to Mizzou?
I was there for two years before transferring to Penn (I was born in Missouri) but I wasn’t a J school student. Nope. I studies philosophy. Goodness knows why.
Yep, a photo-j grad. I went to UMSL for my first two years.
I was there 1979 – 1981 (Pretty sure. I’d have to check Twas a long time ago)
My husband and I wish the same thing, ever since 2015.
I was at Mizzou from 1982 to 1984; at UMSL 1980-’82.
Almost overlapped! Small world, right?
Always appreciative of repeated detailed legal interpretation for us anxious pro democracy citizens. Being informed how legal procedure supposed to operate, along with reminder adhering to our law’s purpose and goals, often and necessarily becomes a long game. Keeping expectations in check helps keep me sane and focusing on supporting our institutions ultimately will serve us all.
True Confession enjoying occasional guilty pleasure “schadenfreude” whenever bad people find themselves squirming in the process of being held accountable – however fleeting that satisfaction may be.
Time to hunker down for a rocky long haul. Thank you for your generosity sharing your book!
Question – come across notion that “if Nixon had been indicted and prosecuted back then, our current situation dealing with Trump and legal issues would not have become so challenging”…hindsight speculation of course, but having lived through that era am curious. The Martha Mitchell Effect 2022 documentary short on Netflix pretty triggering! Though I learned some things seeing it now through a current lens.
I disagree. Trump is a political problem, the outcome of a backlash against our expanding multiculturalism. I don’t think deterrence works in this sort of situation. I think I talked about that in my general criminal procedure FAQs, a pinned post.
I think Tuesday is now out. tRUmp got hisself a rebuttal witness on Monday.
gift link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/19/nyregion/trump-indictment-costello-cohen.html?unlocked_article_code=wxZeor8i8UtAu2ycANIUoBAHorHn8u2e62VcM8MpKQc9UqCRNWOGmqawx_iadckfsp_Lq6uQwkcrJ4kj4fmYKudn40JQsaDCkrehxMYD4kw5VaT75FqMKJNG4cvhmJCtIAur4pcJ0JS35n1ji2dL5XbJFzhN9-jRPTgaTVl8anpMJeCOk0pqeAFb3T_ovrPQr9QxcBQZryQApItw5dsv2eugyO1tMEtqS9-GZjcWiwXvBoJR7G9WXXJVruBciOyijjFY27RCwI13P_FqJfbo8C0j7jKx8LO85-sY8PfaVL3aem04aYupRkpoMkRh_yNBa4vMMGPTWJ2vcuEjj2uw50BveCX9cVFQbg&smid=url-share
Loved the first part of the novel. Spotted a small error. When he meets Rochelle. Charlie has a guy introduce him to Rochelle and the guy asks his name. He then introduces him to Rochelle (correctly) as Bob. A few moments later Charlie joins the group and repeatedly refers to his great buddy and roommate BILL
I agree that we don’t want a police state, but perhaps the answer lies in further restricting the requirements for somebody to become a candidate in the first place. The Constitution sets the requirements for president at being born in the U.S., having lived here for at least 14 years, and having reached age 35. Seems like there should be some additional requirements for a position with such power and importance. Perhaps adding things such as being able to pass a background check for a security clearance (which also tests for certain behavioral pathologies), having at least a basic understanding of the Constitution they would have to swear to protect if elected, etc. I know that won’t happen, but our system as it is allowed somebody like Trump to gain the presidency and continue to pose a significant national security risk long after his “service”.
When is your book about disinformation coming out?
I read several books about misinformation and disinformation the past several years, and as a father and Cybersecurity professional I find the subject fascinating. You can check out som the books I read on my Bookish blog manoflabook.com
I just found out it will be delayed until early 2024. Me = GAH
I don’t think you can add additional requirements for president to what the Constitution offers. That’s why the 14th Amendment, section 3 was added.
thanks will fix
Trump is a political problem, so arresting him at this late date in his grift game is pro forma at best, and if he is convicted — and that is a big huge if because he has insulated himself against accountability and legal culpability for decades through yes men paid to do the dirty work and to buffer him against the long arm of the law. Racksterring, RICO, charges are the only ones that matter to me, and all these cases are extremely difficult to get convicted on. Trump knows that, but he also knows how egregious his lawlessness has been. So, rather than taking any chances on not being re-elected, and on being convicted of his plethora of crimes, he’s effectively calling for his base to topple the U.S. government now and presumably return him to power by way of “protests” on Tuesday March 21, 2023. He’s tired of having no access to “his home,” our White House. What a mess!
Wasn’t that the original intended purpose for the electoral college? To protect the achilles heel of a democratic-republic and provide a firewall between voters easily swayed by demagoguery and the Presidency?
Yes, the public was warned. Psychiatrists wrote two collaborative books around 2016 about Trump’s issues in some depth. For the visually oriented there was a documentary about his life which chronicled his business behavior in NYC, where he was infamous for the similar conduct in real estate circles as prompted his two impeachment trials and all the current investigations. NYC powers-that-be know who and what he is/was, but they remained mute about the truth because there was $$ for them to make through that silence. Finally, his niece’s podcast (Mary Trump) explores weekly evaluations for those remaining in doubt after January 6 that DJT’s sole objective is self-aggrandizement at all costs to others.
There was no stage at which arresting Trump would have solved the problem. In fact, arresting him before all the evidence was gathered and having him beat the charges would have been far far worse. See the two blog posts that I have pinned for more.
Oh no, any chance you’ll be publishing an except in the Atlantic or other publication?
HA I doubt it.
Thanks for the novel. A smooth read.
The first few pages of day 4 need editing. Got up, ate, showered; then guard took him to shower.
I am reading your novel, a fun ride. It must have been fun to write as well. I will start part 3 tonight. It’s an entertaining way to learn recent history or refresh your memory of it. I am so old that I’ve lived thru most of it.
Thanks for your good work
I’d like to post a call for a mass celebration in NYC, a flash mob party on the streets around the prosecutor’s office when our dear bleater is hauled in, a million voices calling out so he can hear from inside his holding pen, “LOCK HIM UP!” Celebrants should come in costume, like Bay to Breakers in SFCA, but with political themes. He needs to hear from us!
We could, in theory, amend the Constitution. But it would require us to have moved well past the Trump era as a society, in order to get enough states and members of Congress to agree that it is a good idea to prohibit similar people from being eligible.
What if the parties had a requirement that you had to pass a background screening before they would allow you to run on their ticket?
Perfectly legal.